My house is looking kind of crazy at the moment! I've got sharp cheddar ageing in the fridge, gouda drying in the pantry, yoghurt fermenting on top of my water heater, and bowls of cashews soaking everywhere. Making a start on gruyere this afternoon!

So - the power of the oven. Always going to have rejeluvac culture in there. (and most likely cheese too if it needs to be air-dried. every day I gave it a nice little stir, and and made the sprouts whirl up and i tested it and it was freshy and as lemony as it was GOING to get. I am going to stock up on some cashews, and stuff and make some cheeses next week :D I don't know which but stuff i can do right away!

I just realised I didn't follow the recipe to the letter, I used 1/4 cup of coconut oil (40 grams, I measured before melting, so I know it should be a bit more to fit 1/4 cup) and I should have used 1 cup. It also says 1 pound Basic Cashew Cheese, that's the supposed yield of the recipe, but I think I used less. However, it's tasty, just less solid (so I will never add a whole cup of pure saturated fat to it, it also dilutes the flavour). I've never tried dairy Brie, so I can't tell if this one is similar to it.

are those peppercorns on top?I LOVED dairy Brie. it was like the best thing on this earth.

I got some cashews soaking. I am going to make boursin (I've never had that), or maybe basic chevere. when i go shopping this week I'm going to get the stuff to make guyere. :) and possibly mozzarella.

Hmm. i think next time I am going to use my food processor, rather than my blender. when I was scraping it out of my Ninja i saw a little few pieces of nuts, where as I think the food processor will smooth it out before I hit "butter" stage.

Ack... I'm a little concerned about my rejuvelac. It has a lemony smell and flavor to it, but also a kind of barnyard funk that if I were drinking beer I'd attribute to brettanomyces, which is an airborne yeast, I think. Is it ok or do I need to start over...?

I made the Brown Piquant Cheese...I brushed it daily with red wine/salt. It is really pungent--almost like a vegan stinky cheese. Its good in small bites...BUT....tonight I made vegan ceasar dressing with it! SO GOOD!!!!

My yoghurt didn't work at all. I don't know what's up with it, but it looks and tastes exactly the same as it did when I first poured everything into the jar. It was a really cold day here but I kept it on top of my water heater (which is in a cupboard in my hallway), which is where I usually put bread dough to rise these days but I guess it just didn't cut it. Sadness!

Has anyone had luck buying rejuvelac in the Portland area? I heard maybe Whole Foods, but no one seems to know what it is. What section of the store would it be and is it just called rejuvelac or is there another name?Thanks!

My yoghurt didn't work at all. I don't know what's up with it, but it looks and tastes exactly the same as it did when I first poured everything into the jar. It was a really cold day here but I kept it on top of my water heater (which is in a cupboard in my hallway), which is where I usually put bread dough to rise these days but I guess it just didn't cut it. Sadness!

Aw that's sad! I first made yoghurt like this from a Lebanese cookbook (just subbed the dairy for soy/coconut). I wrap mine in a few heavy blanket layers. The Lebanese book actually suggested to keep everything in the pan then wrap the whole thing in layers but this time I used a glass jar. What yoghurt did you use as the starter? I used coyo natural. My yoghurt isn't as thick as that...but coyo is very thick.

Actually, one thing the Lebanese book said to do that this one didn't is not to stir the yoghurt for 24 hours after you put it in the fridge, at which point you can 'break' it.

I find my yoghurt gets thicker over the first 24hrs or so in the fridge. I have found it needs to be warmer than bread dough though- I use the oven set to about 30c. Input a plate in with the jar on top, because the direct heat from the oven shelf was too much.

My yoghurt didn't work at all. I don't know what's up with it, but it looks and tastes exactly the same as it did when I first poured everything into the jar. It was a really cold day here but I kept it on top of my water heater (which is in a cupboard in my hallway), which is where I usually put bread dough to rise these days but I guess it just didn't cut it. Sadness!

It's probably the starter. I can make yoghurt with only one brand, and, that brand contains Bifidus and Acidophillus, not S. Thermophilus or L. bulgaricus.

I think the optimal temperature is around 40°C. But, before I had a yoghurt maker, I managed to make it on my counter when air temperature was over 20°C at night, In winter, I would make it on my radiator.

I did wonder if it might be a problem with the starter, like with it maybe not being 'real' yoghurt but instead some kind of substitute. I used Kingland plain yoghurt. The price tag has put me off CoYo so far, but I'm willing to give it a try (especially if three tablespoons will keep me in homemade yoghurt indefinitely!).

I haven't tried anything other than the parmesan yet - it was really tasty - but I'm going to let it air-dry some more before using again since it's not quite *hard*. I wanted to add that I met Miyoko at Chicago VeganMania the other day after witnessing such a great demo of a few cheeses and I'm feeling even more inspired! My girlfriend and friends are also pumped to make some more. Julalegume just raved and raved about the nacho cheese sauce and stuffed shells with almond ricotta they sampled.

I made my first cheese from this book--the Gruyere. It has another day or so to ferment, but it tastes so good that it's all I can do not to tuck into the bowl right now. It's a good thing I don't have any crackers in the house.

I can't wait to start on the meltables, but they'll have to wait until I locate some plain unsweetened soy yogurt around here.